As the clock keeps ticking and Thanksgiving Day approaches, local resident Cindy Vandor starts getting a little nervous. She’s a member of one of the three families that began a Malibu grassroots tradition of providing a community Thanksgiving dinner to about 300 day laborers and people in need every year for the past 17 years.
“We started this annual tradition in order to nurture a spirit of community and caring,” Vandor wrote in an e-mail last week. “We never know how many people we need to feed and we never know how much food people will cook and donate…so…it’s a nerve wracking event to put on, but always one of the best days of the year!”
The seeds of the event were humble, and spread across different faith traditions.
“The event started with three families feeling the need to teach our children how to repair the world through good deeds in their own community,” Vandor said. “The Ettenger and Vandor families are members of Malibu Jewish Center and Diane Malecha belongs to Malibu Methodist Church, so it was natural to involve the houses of worship.”
The event, which runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at the Malibu Methodist Church, includes a traditional home-cooked Thanksgiving meal for anyone who shows up, as well as free haircuts, live mariachi music, arts and crafts for children, and a gift bag of toiletries to take home.
“The Thanksgiving Dinner brings the Malibu community together to share a wonderful meal and a festive afternoon,” Vandor wrote. “The Boy Scouts bring pies, local pre-schools make the decorations, the MHS boys water polo team sets up chairs and tables, the meat carving crew swaps stories of old Malibu and teenagers who wouldn’t wash a dish at home put in hours helping out. Volunteers leave with something wonderful, too—memories of a community that cares.”
As in years past, all the food is not only donated, but dropped off already prepared by dozens of local families.
“The food just kind of shows up,” Malecha said in an interview with The Malibu Times last year. Like the parable of Jesus with the loaves and fish, “there always seems to be more than we know what to do with.”
Other, organic innovations have sprung up all on their own.
“Volunteer Linda Androlia picks up unused Halloween candy at the Malibu schools, and when Thanksgiving Day rolls around, she serves up the candy, which is also used to decorate the tables,” Vandor said. “A couple years ago, an elderly man showed up with baskets of fresh-picked oranges and a juice squeezer and now he’s part of the traditions of the event: His smile and delicious fresh juice make Thanksgiving Day morning so much sweeter.”
What’s kept Vandor going for 17 years?
“For me, it’s the gratitude of the people we feed and the loving attitude of the people who volunteer. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else for Thanksgiving, though it’s very hard work,” she said. “We spend weeks beforehand planning, enlisting cooks, gathering donations and worrying if we will have enough of everything.”
The tradition has spread to the Vandor, Ettenger and Malecha kids, each of whom take turns helping out before, during and after the meal.
“Our family started this when I was pregnant with my youngest, Isaac. He’s now 17 and he’s never known any other kind of Thanksgiving,” Vandor said. “He coordinates the food and volunteer cooks, and has learned valuable skills for dealing with all sorts of people, scheduling, project management, public speaking and event planning—as well as knowledge of every type of casserole ever made!”
On Thanksgiving Day, Vandor usually wakes up early and starts cooking turkeys. “My personal record is five turkeys cooked in one day! I run one of the kitchens at the church, and I’m exhausted by day’s end, but it’s the best day in Malibu all year…a day when everyone comes together as one caring community.”
One of her favorite stories was the military precision of a troop of boy scouts armed with cans of whipped cream to decorate slices of pie. When given the order “Ready, aim, fire,” “a whole troop of boy scouts hit a whole table full of pies with a whole lot of whipped cream,” Vandor laughed. “Every one of the scouts hit their target.”
The workers and needy people who show up for the annual feast find out about it through the Malibu Labor Exchange, Malibu schools, local churches and synagogues, Artifac Tree and word of mouth.
“We especially encourage children and seniors to come out and help,” Vandor said. “Everything from volunteer cooks to dishwashers to clothing sorters and decorators are needed and welcomed.”
To volunteer, email Eden at guitarheaven101@aol.com. To donate food and/or supplies, email Isaac at malibuthanksgiving@gmail.com.
